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QUESTIONS SHATRUGHAN SINHAActor-turned-politician and former Union
minister Shatrughan Sinha today disagreed with the cut off age of 75
years for selection of ministers in Narendra Modi cabinet. "I do
not agree with this 75-year age bar for appointment of a person as
minister," Sinha, second term BJP Lok Sabha MP from Patna Sahib, told
PTI. 67-year-old Sinha, who served as Union minister in the NDA
government of Atal Bihari Vajpayee, disputed fixing such an age bar. "Instead of age, the criteria shall be mental alertness and health," he said.
"Even at an age of 86, veteran BJP leader L K Advani has a sharp
memory and energy like a 40-year-old man," said Sinha, who has on
numerous occasion described Advani as his "political guru". "Who
can question the mental alertness and physical activities of Advani or
Murli Manohar Joshi?" he asked, adding that for successfully running the
government maturity and rich experien…

After losing elections and power, about 55
former union ministers will have to vacate their official bungalows by
June 26 to enable the new ones to move in. Sources said the Directorare
of Estates is preparing to send notices to them to vacate their
bungalows. There were 70 ministers in UPA out of which some have won
while many lost in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Those who have lost
will be asked to vacate by June 26, the sources said. "There are
about 55 Type-VI, Type-VII and Type-VIII bungalows to be vacated for the
newly-appointed ministers," a source said about the houses located in
the prime areas of New Delhi. In the meantime, Dirctorate of
Estates is providing transit accommodation to all new MPs at state
bhawans and state-owned Ashoka hotel. Once the new Lok Sabha Housing committee is formed, it will start allotting houses to MPs.
Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu today appealed to the former
ministers to vacate their official residenc…

RAJNATH TO KCRHome Minister Rajnath Singh has asked
Telangana Rashtra Samiti chief K Chandrasekhar Rao to ensure peace
during any agitation launched by his party. During a telephonic
conversation yesterday, Singh told Rao that all agitation and
demonstration programmes of the TRS should be peaceful, sources said.
The telephone was made after TRS called a bandh today in Telangana
region to protest the move to merge villages in seven mandals of Khammam
district with the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh for construction of
the mega Polavaram project. The shutdown call was given by TRS
chief and Chief Minister-designate K Chandrasekhar Rao condemning what
he termed as "injustice" to Telangana. Rao's party Telangana
Rashtra Samiti won 63 out of the 119 assembly seats in Telangana in the
recent elections while Naidu's Telugu Desam Party, along with ally BJP,
bagged 106 of the 175 assembly seats in Seemandhra.

The search for the missing
Malaysian jet suffered yet another blow today after Australia ruled out a large
area in the Indian Ocean where four acoustic signals were detected as the final
resting place of the plane. The Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, Bluefin-21,
completed its last mission searching the remaining areas in the vicinity of the
acoustic signals detected in early April by the Towed Pinger Locator deployed
from the Australian ship Ocean Shield. "The data collected on yesterday's
mission has been analysed. As a result, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre
can advise that no signs of aircraft debris have been found by the Autonomous
Underwater Vehicle since it joined the search effort," the Joint Agency
Coordination Centre that is leading the search said. "The Australian
Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has advised that the search in the vicinity of
the acoustic detections can now be considered complete and in its professional
judgment, the area can now be dis…

Following its mantra of
maximum governance and minimum government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi may
implement performance-based incentives schemes for central government
employees. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) is slated to give a
detailed presentation on Performance-Related Incentive Scheme (PRIS), which was
recommended by Sixth Pay Commission and accepted by the UPA government, to the
Prime Minister soon, officials said. PRIS could not be implemented by the UPA
government which had given its "in-principle" approval. DoPT is
likely to outline the salient features of the scheme aimed at improving
governance in its presentation to Modi. "The detailed guidelines will be
put in place after Prime Minister gives his go-ahead to it," a senior DoPT
official said. As per the draft guidelines framed during UPA's tenure,
performance-related incentive will be payable taking into account the
performance of the organisation and employees during the period …

In a special gesture, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi today visited his predecessor Manmohan Singh to make a
courtesy call. Modi, who was sworn-in yesterday and took charge this
morning, drove to 3, Motilal Nehru Place, the new abode of Singh, to
meet him this evening. He was received by Singh and his wife Gursharan
Kaur who shifted to the new residence after attending the swearing-in
ceremony of Modi at the Rashtrapati Bhawan last evening, vacating 7,
Race Course Road, his official residence for 10 years. Sources
described Modi's visit to Singh's place as a courtesy call. Modi has
not yet moved into the Race Course Road residence and is staying put in
Gujarat Bhawan. He is likely to shift a few days later as the new
residence is being refurbished, according to sources.

India and Pakistan today
decided to explore the way forward in bilateral ties through their
Foreign Secretaries after a "constructive" meeting between Pakistan
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi who
voiced concerns over terrorism originating from Pakistan. On his first
day in office, Modi held talks with all the eight foreign leaders who
attended his swearing-in ceremony yesterday, but his most substantive
discussion was with Sharif who then returned home. During the 45-minute
meeting, Modi, who has been sharply critical of his predecessor
Manmohan Singh's Pakistan policy, expressed the hope that India-Pakistan
relations would progress in the economic, cultural and political fields
in the same manner that India's relations with her other SAARC
neighbours have progressed in recent years. Briefing reporters on
Modi's meeting with Sharif and other SAARC leaders, Foreign Secretary
Sujatha Singh said Modi remarked tha…

The mercury inched up today in most parts of northern India
as the region remained largely dry under the blazing summer sun. The
maximum temperature was in the high-30s in Delhi with the MeT office
predicting a further rise in the mercury in the national capital. The
day temperature was recorded two notches below normal at 38.8 degrees
Celsius while the minimum was three points below normal at 24 degrees.
Humidity in air fluctuated between 33 and 88 per cent. The maximum
yesterday in Delhi was recorded at 36.4 degrees with the minimum having
settled at 21.4 degrees. But the weatherman has predicted a rise in
temperatures tomorrow with the skies expected to remain clear and the
maximum and minimum are tipped to be at 45 and 25 degrees, respectively.
The heat continued to trouble people across the states of Punjab and
Haryana as the mercury hovered close to the 40- degree mark. Bhiwani in
Haryana sizzled at 40.7 degrees, two notches above normal, while
Narnaul, too,…

American media today gave wide coverage to
the swearing-in ceremony of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister and praised
his decision to invite leaders of the South Asian nations. "Narendra
Modi sworn in as Indian prime minister, heralding change," said the
headline of the prestigious 'Los Angeles Times'. "Narendra Modi was
sworn in Monday as India's 15th prime minister, offering a new, more
conservative government to a country thirsty for economic change," it
said. Taking note of the presence of the leaders of the South Asian
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), especially Pakistan
Premier, the report said: "The ceremony at the presidential palace in
New Delhi was notable for the presence of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz
Sharif, who reportedly ignored warnings from his own intelligence
agency to attend. "Relations have been tense between the two
nuclear-armed rivals," it added. Tracing the humble and ideological
li…

Asking people's support to script a glorious
future for India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight said he would be
using social media to communicate with people across the world as he
believed in a platform where views are shared. "I am a firm believer in
the power of technology and social media to communicate with people
across the world. I hope this platform creates opportunities to listen,
learn and share one's views," he said in his letter to fellow Indians
and citizens of the world. The letter posted on the official website of
the Prime Minister said, "Through this website you (people) will also
get all the latest information about my speeches, schedules, foreign
visits and lot more. "I will also keep informing you about innovative
initiatives undertaken by the government of India." He said the May 16
verdict delivered a mandate for development, good governance and
stability. "As we devote ourselves to take India's dev…

In yet another setback,
deposed Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra was today indicted by an anti- graft
body over a controversial rice subsidy scheme and will face impeachment that
could dash her hopes of an electoral comeback, a day after a court dismissed
her from office. The National Anti-Corruption Commission voted unanimously to
indict 46-year-old Yingluck on charges of dereliction of duty in overseeing the
controversial rice subsidy programme. Under the rice subsidy scheme, for which
Yingluck was indicted today, the government bought rice from Thai farmers at a
much higher price than on the global market. However, it resulted in the
accumulation of huge stockpiles of rice and hit Thailand's rice exports hard.
Yingluck was accused of negligence linked to the rice scheme with her political
foes alleging the scheme drained Thai finances, damaged the country's rice
producing industry and fostered massive corruption. "The commission
considers there is enough evidence to in…

Just 30 minutes of musical
training can increase the blood flow in the left hemisphere of our brain which
is believed to be responsible for language processing, according to a new
study. The research by the University of Liverpool in UK suggests that the
areas responsible for music and language share common brain pathways.
Researchers from the University's Institute of Psychology, Health and Society
carried out two separate studies which looked at brain activity patterns in
musicians and non-musicians. The first study looking for patterns of brain
activity of 14 musicians and 9 non-musicians whilst they participated in music
and word generation tasks. The results showed that patterns in the musician's
brains were similar in both tasks but this was not the case for the
non-musicians. In the second study, brain activity patterns were measured in a
different group of non-musical participants who took part in a word generation
task and a music perception task. The measurements wer…